>>90892The omikuji book is so interesting. Like a year ago when this all started, if I would have said "ZUN will release an official Touhou fortune telling book" people would have been haha yeah keep on dreaming schizo. On some mundane level it makes sense - he's drawn a handful of Touhou-themed omikuji before, but there's just...something about it all.
In particular, the framing of how Reimu needs to do the omikuji to re-define the nature of Gensokyo's inhabitants is so...Shinto. Everything is ever changing, but by doing the proper rituals, it's possible to return to balance and into a kind of timeles state.
Something about him throw the beans at that shrine during New Year's, activity usually reserved for priests, just feels like he is either wilfully taking or being prodded to take that "High Priest of Hakurei Shrine" role he has chosen for himself more seriously.
There's also that on Japanese government document about the state of religions in Japan, and they use some YouTube video where Hatsune Miku gives worship instructions at the Hakurei Shrine as an example of "virtual religion".
>>91118I love that song, it's like a hymn to her.
>>91148Gyate Gyate is only a part of the mantra, the full thing goes:
Gyatei gyatei haragyatei harasōgyatei boji sowaka
The way it was explained to me, it's intended to awaken the prajna wisdom of the one who recities it. Prajna is insight into the nature of things, in a Buddhist sense.
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